|a pretty a day is here and away|

Documenting life's beauty, as seen through the eyes of a lady blessed with everything a girl could dream of, and more: five gorgeous kids, patient and providing husband, an adorable dog, a very cheeky frog, and still time enough to get crafty and creative in the kitchen or with my trusty needles, thread and yarn!The joys of being Queen of the household! Rejoice, and the world joins in!

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Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Happy people and all their July parties!

This year, it all started with a little something the girls set up on the eve of the big day!

We were all settled round the supper table when the lights dimmed and Kim came singing out of the kitchen with dainty little cakes on silver... Sweet!

and my sweet Kimmy dearest gamely picked up a flute and got the party started with the birthday song! I was gleeful, that goes without saying!

One of the rare joys of a full-time mom is sleeping in on weekdays... so that's exactly what we all did on this 24th of July!

We woke up at noon and got into the car, and Alfred decided Malacca would be the destination of choice!

So with the five of the rest of us navigating (or trying to navigate...), off we went!

Nick was thrilled to receive a little message on his phone at the checkpoint... "Have a lovely trip!"

"I will!" he said.

It's been a whole 10 years since we last drove in to Malacca as a family, and the joke is that Alfred probably had to take the time to get over the hours and hours of driving that he clocked in the last time we got lost looking for Malacca!

Of course, he insisted he was game for driving in, any time! We'll take your word for it then, we said!

A little stopover at one of the resorts before we head on to Jonker Street....

And just look at these three in the midst of Jonker's great old shophouses. Malacca's such a great place for just letting time go slowly by, and filled with great cafes... We even found a Hakka restaurant and loved the food there! We all wondered why it took us a good decade to return... again, fingers were pointed at the long ride!

Time flies, it's true! But after the sun sets, the little pubs come to life! We took a few family pictures before heading for drinks...

And we were really in for a big surprise!

It was so great, it caught even the birthday chief Alfred by surprise!

And that's because a certain someone whispered to the bartender that it was my birthday...

and this is what they did!

Watch it!

Needless to say, we all had a great time!

And I might say this every year, but this surely ranks right up there with the most memorable birthdays I've had ;)

A story to tell for a long time to come! (The best part of the story, of course, is how we only got home at 4AM after a series of wrong moves on the highway home!!! Whoops!)

I had never in my life seen a candle this tall! Of course, I made a wish worthy of the candle's size!

A
birthday's always fun when you spend it with your favourite people...
and boy, these are my ultimate favourites! Thank you Alfred, Ben, Mel,
Kim, Mimi and Nick for the great, great 24/7 birthday fun! A special thank you to my Mimi who sent a whole stream of photos from her wandering around Prague and other places! She keeps us guessing, that one... ;)